Page 27 of Santa Has a Six-Pack
“No! Not like that. No.” Her cheeks get pink, which makes me smile. “I just meant, I find ‘Christmas people’ fascinating. How they get into all this silliness is beyond me.”
“Nothing silly about it,” I say. But then my eyes catch on the plastic Santa statue perched high on our loft, ‘peeing’ a string of white twinkly lights down to the floor, and Penny smirks, her point made.
I rub my hands together. “Let’s get started, shall we?”
“Great!” Keira chimes in. “Penn, why don’t you get into your workout clothes real quick, while I set up the camera. Pick whatever you like. Everything’s your size and will look great on you.”
Everything looks great on this woman.
Shit. I’m staring again.
Gene clears his throat. “I’ll show you to our changing rooms,” he offers and escorts Penny out of sight.
When we’re alone, I lead Keira across the space where our Bossfit Brooklyn logo is proudly painted on the wall. “I was thinking this corner would be best. We have great natural light coming in through these windows. Do you mind the branding, though?”
“The branding is great!” Keira positions her tripod. “Your involvement has already helped Herald’s so much, Matt. We’d love it if this video series brought more business to Bossfit Brooklyn, too.”
“I appreciate that. We can use all the free press we can get.” I scan the equipment I’ve gathered for our shoot. “Okay. So I have a basic workout planned for her that I think will work nicely. A few wall balls, some L-sits, maybe some toes-to-bar, and then we can wrap it all up with a round of burpees.”
Keira laughs. “I have no idea what any of that means, but I trust you completely.”
“Cool.” I gather some bottles of water and restock the fridge. “Are the Klaus kids doing the holiday show at school this year?”
“Gosh, I don’t know. I heard something about it, but it’s been a real juggle at home lately.” She sighs. “Did we already miss sign-ups?”
“Nope! Sign-ups are tomorrow. The first rehearsal is the day before Thanksgiving. Then we’ll rehearse during recess for three weeks in December until the show. I’m the director, so you have an in.” I give her a friendly wink. “Though, truth be told, any kid who wants to do it is automatically part of the cast.”
“Director, huh? For a kids’ holiday show? Seems like a big undertaking for an already busy guy.” Keira gets her camera into place.
“It’s my first year. So I guess we’ll see?”
“How’d you get roped into that?”
“No roping necessary. My coworker who usually helms it is on maternity leave, so I said I’d fill in this year. I went to PS44 myself when I was a kid, and being part of that show was one of the last happy Christmas experiences I remember having, so…”
Whoops. Said too much.
Keira’s eyebrows furrow. “Why? What happened after that?”
“Oh. Um.”
I don’t talk about my dad often. Certainly not to a near stranger who is essentially one of my bosses for the next six weeks. But I did fling the door wide open for her question. I take a deep breath and say, “My, uh, my dad died when I was ten. On Christmas.”
Her face falls. “Shit.”
“Yeah. My mom and I didn’t really celebrate the holiday much after that.”
At all is more like it. My mom and I didn’t celebrate Christmas at all after that.
Keira’s eyes go misty. “Matt, I’m so sorry.”
“All good!” I say as brightly as I can, regretting bringing down the vibe. “Long time ago now.”
“Yeah, but still,” she says. “That must be really hard. What changed?”
“What do you mean?” I ask.
“Well, why are you celebrating this year?”
